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Turbulence in Gulf geopolitics
July 12, 20177:00 p.m.
MADRID
Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Alcalá, 62).
7:00 p.m.
Free entry until the event’s capacity is reached.
In English and Spanish, with simultaneous translation
Toby Matthiesen and Luciano Zaccara will be analyzing rivalries on the Arabian Peninsula at Casa Árabe.
Matthiesen, main researcher at Oxford University’s Middle East Centre, and Zaccara, an assistant professor at Qatar University’s Gulf Studies Center, will be accompanied by Pedro Villena, the General Director of Casa Árabe, who is presenting the conference.
The rivalries throughout the Arabian Peninsula have increased as each country struggles to create global maritime shipping centers, airlines, media outlets, expeditionary forces and financial districts. One generation ago, the Gulf was run on foundations of consensus, the main concern being stability. However, petrodollars, huge arsenals, regional wars (Syria, Yemen, Libya) and international politics –including interactions with Washington and Tehran– have changed things, and tensions are running high as of late. The plans for a Gulf Cooperation Council able to form a strong common economic and foreign policy have come into question. It is therefore a good idea to analyze whether this turbulence is a temporary phenomenon or shows signs of more long-lasting dynamics.
Toby Matthiesen is the main researcher on International Relations in the Middle East at Antony’s College, Oxford University. He was formerly a researcher at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He earned his PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). He is the author of Sectarian Gulf: Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the Arab Spring That Wasn’t (Stanford University Press, 2013), and The Other Saudis: Shiism, Dissent and Sectarianism (Cambridge University Press, 2015). Matthiesen has had his work published extensively in academic journals and well-known media, on both television and radio. His current research revolves around the Sunni-Shia divide and the legacies of the Cold War in the Middle East.
Luciano Zaccara is an assistant professor at Qatar University’s Gulf Studies Center. He was formerly a visiting professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar, where he taught classes on democratization processes in the Middle East and Iranian politics. Since 2002, he has worked as a fellowship recipient and contracted researcher at UAM’s International Mediterranean Studies Workshop and as a professor in the PhD program for International Mediterranean Studies and the Master’s degree in Contemporary Arab and Islamic Studies. He has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the Universidad Nacional de Rosario (Argentina) and a PhD in Arab and Islamic Studies from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM).
The rivalries throughout the Arabian Peninsula have increased as each country struggles to create global maritime shipping centers, airlines, media outlets, expeditionary forces and financial districts. One generation ago, the Gulf was run on foundations of consensus, the main concern being stability. However, petrodollars, huge arsenals, regional wars (Syria, Yemen, Libya) and international politics –including interactions with Washington and Tehran– have changed things, and tensions are running high as of late. The plans for a Gulf Cooperation Council able to form a strong common economic and foreign policy have come into question. It is therefore a good idea to analyze whether this turbulence is a temporary phenomenon or shows signs of more long-lasting dynamics.
Toby Matthiesen is the main researcher on International Relations in the Middle East at Antony’s College, Oxford University. He was formerly a researcher at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He earned his PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). He is the author of Sectarian Gulf: Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the Arab Spring That Wasn’t (Stanford University Press, 2013), and The Other Saudis: Shiism, Dissent and Sectarianism (Cambridge University Press, 2015). Matthiesen has had his work published extensively in academic journals and well-known media, on both television and radio. His current research revolves around the Sunni-Shia divide and the legacies of the Cold War in the Middle East.
Luciano Zaccara is an assistant professor at Qatar University’s Gulf Studies Center. He was formerly a visiting professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar, where he taught classes on democratization processes in the Middle East and Iranian politics. Since 2002, he has worked as a fellowship recipient and contracted researcher at UAM’s International Mediterranean Studies Workshop and as a professor in the PhD program for International Mediterranean Studies and the Master’s degree in Contemporary Arab and Islamic Studies. He has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the Universidad Nacional de Rosario (Argentina) and a PhD in Arab and Islamic Studies from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM).
